Tuesday, April 18, 2017

No one really has a 9-5 job anymore! Irrespective of whether you are an IT professional, marketing executive, doctor, banker or even a teacher or housewife, the one thing that’s common is exhaustion due to overwork. Every employer is looking at how productive the employee is, every home maker is looking at what extra can be done or has to be done in order to push through the day and in general everyone is slaving their behinds off overworking, till it kills them. The Japanese have a word for it - Karoshi - which translates to, death due to overwork.

But working those extra hours, slogging away till you fall down dead is not really a great way of living, is it?

Here are 5 reasons why you shouldn’t overwork yourself.

You don’t want to live an incomplete life, do you?

Whether you work at home or at the workplace, they are just one part of your life. There are several other things, like your family, spouse, parents, family, interests, hobbies, travel, and so on and so forth. Making one part of your life into your entire life, is like just living 10% of your life, and neglecting to live the rest. Just like it is important to eat a proper ratio of carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals in order to have a healthy body, it is important to play, relax, and enjoy along with the work that you do.

You don’t desire Loneliness, Do you?

If you continue to neglect all other parts of your life, they will start neglecting you too. The kids grow up before you have played enough with them, the parents are no more around to share in your happiness and grief, the spouse has given up and probably moved on, and you are too old to travel or even pursue your hobbies. When you are finally free to spend some time, no one has the time for you. What a shame!

What about the toll on your Health?

Overworking is stressful. You have to deliver, you have to not only be productive but increase your productivity as well. All this leads to a chronic stressful condition. Soon, it manifests as heart disease, obesity, insomnia, depression, back aches, headaches, stroke etc. You cannot sleep well, you cannot eat well or are overeating and not exercising, your heart cannot bear the pressure and in short, your health goes for a toss. Eat well, exercise, sleep well. These are as important.

What a waste of resources!

What use are the money, fame, and name you have earned if you have not spent them well? Whom are you saving for? The future generation? Does it mean you don’t consider them capable enough to earn their bread? Statistics say that most people who spend their lives overworking, die with more than 90% of their wealth unused for their own benefit.

A friend of mine has a three-storied bungalow which employs 12 servants for its upkeep, runs an AC in every room, entertains guests all the time, and needs a huge amount to be paid in EMI. The couple are successful businesspeople but hardly have time to eat and very little time to spend in their own homes! It makes me wonder for whom are they are working so hard? To make the banks richer, servants comfortable, relatives jealous and power companies prosper?

You don’t want to die with regrets, right?

No one wants to die with regrets. A housewife who has spent all her life just tending to the needs of her family but hasn’t taken any time off to groom herself, pamper herself, fulfill her hobbies or enjoy herself, will invariably find herself staring at an empty nest years later, wondering when her entire life passed by. Why die with unachieved dreams, unfulfilled desires, and unshed inhibitions?

The point is not to tell you to stop working and start enjoying. Rather it is to make you aware that there’s more to life than merely work. Don’t forget to give an equal share of the pie to every aspect of your life. Don’t say, I’ll travel when I retire or I’ll enjoy when I am free of responsibilities. Remember that all these aspects have to be taken care simultaneously so that you can live a fulfilling and happy life.

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About Me

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.-I have tried weaving those pictures into words . I found I could say things on pen and paper that I couldn't say any other way .Drop in for a ride on my blog.In my blog you will find short stories both non-fiction and fiction,with a common thread of emotions.
Email:titli15081977@gmail.com